I could be a number of things rather than oil running out, although that is also possible despite the massive reserves yet to be developed in Iraq and other countries. Of course many fields that might have been uneconomical to develop at $40 per barrel are now likely to be profitable provided the high prices persist for long enough. Iraq I would guess would tend to be in the low-cost producer basket once the security situation is resolved.
Even the US has massive known reserves that have been put off-limits for exploration and development by US companies by wacko greenie policies. Curiously this is not so for Chinese companies that have been able to get in the back door via Cuba to exploit reserves in the narrow waterway between Cuba and the US that US companies are not allowed to touch.
Primarily any gross current shortage seems to be the result of long term policy decisions made during the Clinton years and currently enforced by the democrat controlled congress in the US.
However it does make good sense to wean the US and other economies off their oil dependence if only from a national security standpoint. It makes very little sense to transfer such a huge amount of your wealth to these countries that currently have a stranglehold on the supply and even plan your demise.
A political decision to expand nuclear power generation dramatically in the US would seem to be a sensible choice.
